By the time the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., poll workers learned that a few of the clocks read 6:30 p.m. The problem was found after workers were unable to close down the machines.

Ann Cone, director of the Board of Elections, walked poll workers through the steps necessary to close the polls so votes could be tallied.

"These few machines didn't know it was 7:30 p.m.," Cone said. "It had nothing to do with the votes; it had nothing to do with the count, it had something to do with the clock in the machine."

The problem was fixed within minutes at each of the polling locations at the Black Creek Community Center, Lucama Fire Station and Forest Hills Middle School.

"It was just an extra step with the machines (to close the polls)," Cone said. "We haven't had this problem before with this equipment."

The clock settings should not cause a problem during the November general election, she said..

Cone said she is not sure how the clocks were not set correctly but speculates that the voting machines were not coded correctly to adjust to daylight-saving time.

Voting totals were finalized with the Board of Elections office at 10:30 p.m. Cone said the time is not unusual due to the number of voters at Tuesday's polls and the number of voting machines used.

Wilson County now uses nearly double the number of voting machines and vote counts take much longer than they used to prior to the new machines that were installed in 2006.

Since 2006, Wilson County has used between 170-175 Digital Recording Equipment election machines, which include a paper trail that was not used with earlier Shoup DRE machines.

In earlier elections, the county used between 70 and 85 voting machines, which helped bring in vote totals earlier in the evening, Cone said.

Election results in Wayne and Nash counties came in earlier than Wilson County Tuesday.

Election workers plan to be in the office Saturday hand counting some of the votes from Tuesday's primary. Usually, by direction from the state Board of Elections' office, Wilson County workers hand count totals from two precincts.

Vote totals from the primary will become final after a canvass of the votes on Tuesday.

rochelle@wilsontimes.com | 265-7818